How To Check Your Dashboard Lights

Dashboard lights provide the driver relevant information crucial to driving, such as indications on gas level, engine oil level or even how fast you are going. A driver is as if blind without dashboard lights to guide him. Despite their importance, this is still an often disregarded part of the car interior. Most car owners are probably more preoccupied with the upholstery or the audio system. Just like checking the tires' pressure, checking dashboard lights should also be done regularly before you drive out. Checking of your dashboard lights is a lot easier than changing tires or washing the car. You can do it just before you leave the house in the morning. Being vigilant with your dashboard lights is a preventive measure and can help you avoid untoward incidents on the road.

Identify all the lights in your dashboard. You need to be familiar with all the indicators and signals, including which lights should glow, which shouldn't and how long some should illuminate when you turn on the engine. You can easily get the information on this in the car owner’s manual.

Keep the car engine running for 5 minutes. This should provide you with enough time to check each of the dashboard lights. You can turn on and off particular devices such as the turning signal to see if their indicator lights work.

Turn off the engine and take note of which lights didn't work properly. Things to look out for are Indicators that did not light and those that did not stop gleaming when they are supposed to. Observe also if there are lights that did not turn off even when the engine has stopped.

Recheck the dashboard lights again. Go through all the procedures once again just to make sure you did not miss anything or misinterpret a malfunction. The confusing thing when checking your dashboard lights is that three possibilities could exist when it doesn't work the way it should. The car component that the indicator light should be monitoring could be malfunctioning, the dashboard light itself might not be working properly, or both the lights and components are out of order. It's actually crucial that you also know the general condition of your car so that you can make a clear judgment when checking the dashboard lights. If a light problem still persists, then it's time to bring your car in for repairs.

The whole thing might seem superfluous, but regularly checking even the smallest details on your car should be made a habit. You never know when a something unfortunate could happen on the road.

Quick Tips:

The alternator light should stop glowing when the car is running. If it does, then the car battery is giving out more electricity than it is recharging.